Adults who were young — or just young a heart — when the Harry Potter film series first hit theaters have a chance to introduce their kids to Harry on the big screen. Cinemark Theatres kicks off its weeklong nationwide "Wizarding World XD" Harry Potter film fest on Friday.

Festival goers can see all eight Harry Potter films and “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” in XD for $5 each. A festival pass to see all nine films for $25 in Redding was sold out as of Monday.

News of the festival caught Redding resident Malgorzata Zielinska unaware: “I have to think about a freakin’ costume! I have to make a wand!”

Zielinska has been a fan of the Potter movies since she saw the first film in 2001.

“I was sitting in the theater with a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old," said Zielinska, who was so enthralled she forgot to look over at her children during the film. If they'd wandered off, "I'd be searching for them with the ushers."

Luckily her kids were just as riveted to the story.

Daniel Radcliffe played the lead role in 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,' the eighth and final film in the series.(Photo: WARNER BROS. PICTURES)

"I remember thinking, ‘Magic is real,’” said Zielinska, who saw every film as they came out, sometimes waiting in line for midnight openings. “For me, being in the theater, I’m immersed, I’m there.”

It's been 21 years since the first Harry Potter book, 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,' hit British bookstore shelves, and 20 years since it came to the United States. That first book sparked a tsunami of Pottermania that bridged periods between releases of each of J.K. Rowling's seven-book series and the eight movies based on them.

New books, film offshoots, park rides, a Broadway show, cosplay events and school curriculum perpetuate Potter's world, but nothing has come close to hitting the Potter craze that marked the first decade of the new millennium.

Kids waited in lines, sometimes all day, for midnight book releases and opening-night movie tickets. They often came dressed as their favorite characters.

Super-fan Randy Slaughter of Redding sports a Harry Potter tattoo on her shoulder. She's loved the Potter stories and films since she was in sixth grade.(Photo: Contributed photo)

Cinemark's film fest "coincides with one of the most important Wizarding World dates: Sept. 1...," said James Meredith, Cinemark's senior vice president of marketing. That's "when the Hogwarts Express takes all the wizards back to school."

Fans who saw the first Potter movies when they were released in theaters can expect a whole new film experience this time around.

Meredith said Cinemark's XD auditoriums will give viewers a new way to see the Potter films. They include wall-to-wall screens, surround sound with multi-channel speakers and and a state-of-the-art projection system.

Holly Smith of Redding loved the Potter stories since her great grandmother gave her the first book. She said she’s been “keeping an eye” on Cinemark’s Potter fest plans. She plans to attend but isn’t sure who’ll be in her entourage.

“I might go with my mom and my sister,” Smith said.

'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' is the first film in the spinoff series that pre-dates the events in the Harry Potter series.(Photo: Warner Bros.)

Zielinska and her family do their own three-day Harry Potter movie marathons at home, but she's excited to see the films in the theater again, even if it means going by herself.

"If my 15-year-old wants to join me, great," she said. "He may not if I go in costume. I don’t care, I’m going.”

Zielinska believes the Potter series has more to offer than just entertainment.

“It teaches friendship, and standing up for each other, and standing up for what’s right” including battling racism, she said.

Potter devotees think themes from the series may provide a little comfort for Carr Fire-torn Shasta County.

“No matter what life gives you, you never give up,” Smith said. “Just like the phoenix, you rise from the ashes no matter what.”

Fans also think Potter, like the Oz books and Winnie the Pooh, will stand the test of time.